This image (from a postcard produced by J. E. Huntrodd of Brotton) is of surface workers from Huntcliffe mine, the clue is in their clothing and particularly their trousers. When supplied (by Geoff Kitching) he commented about atleast two people in the image can also be found in the image ‘Lumpsey 2’. The gentleman on the back row (now known to be Mr Ralph Clough, Mine Engineer) he was at Huntcliffe and moved to Lumpsey; also the miner in the front row (with a terrier dog) also features in the same Lumpsey image. There may be other matches but leave it to eagle-eyed viewers to assist. Any assistance with names would be welcomed.
Image courtesy of Geoff Kitching, with researches courtesy of Tom Kitching .
This photograph is dated 1903. The squad that decommissioned Huntcliffe Mine. There are about 10 men here who are New Marske , Upleatham Miners , of which I have other pictures of them from this period.
I also have 2 other photographs showing this squad at work.
The man at the back centre , light cap, wearing waistcoat, white shirt and tie is Thomas Dent, joiner employed by Pease and Partners at this time.
4 years later after this photo was taken Thomas would loose his life to pneumonia, aged only 43, formally of 44 Dale Street, New Marske.
From the Dent family approx 10 years back:
Thomas’s father was Thomas Harding Dent b 1834 . He married Maria Haswell in Guisborough in 1854 . Thomas Dent was their fifth (at least) child , and was born in Guisborough in January 1864 . His mother has signed the birth certificate with a cross , and the registrar has written alongside “the mark of Maria Dent , Mother” . The certificate records the newborn’s father as “Thomas Harding Dent , journeyman joiner”.
The family later moved to Marske , where census returns show them living at , first number 8 , and later number 29 Chapel Street . Thomas Harding Dent is shown as “joiner at the mines”.
Thomas Dent apparently followed in his father’s footsteps , becoming a joiner himself .
At this time in Marske , there was the family of John and Maria Robinson from Norfolk , who had come to Marske to work in the mines .
There was also Police Sergeant William Stones living with his wife Magaret and their children , at 163 High Street Marske in the Police house . He came to Marske on promotion to Sergeant in 1876 and retired in 1890 , when he moved to 133 High Street and became verger at St. Mark’s church .
I mention this because Thomas Dent later married Hannah , daughter of the Robinsons from Norfolk . Thomas and Hannah lived at 44 Dale Street New Marske , and had numerous children , including Ernest , my grandfather b 1895.
Sadly after only 4 years of this photo being taken Tom Dent lost his life to pneumonia, he was only 43 years of age.